Players Trust provides grants to VOA

The Major League Baseball Players Trust announced grants totaling $70,000 to fund Volunteers of America programs that benefit at-risk youth and developmentally disabled adults.

The Grants of $10,000 each, presented at a national VOA conference in Cincinnati on Monday, will fund VOA programs in Greater Ohio, Delaware Valley, Illinois, North Louisiana, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin to assist homeless youth, disabled adults, and homeless and low-income families.

"On behalf of all Major League Baseball players, it is a great honor for the Players Trust to help support the outstanding efforts of Volunteers of America's local offices to improve the lives of disadvantaged children and their families," said Tony Clark, a Players Trust trustee and member of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

"All Major League Baseball players are proud of our national partnership with Volunteers of America. Together we can make a bigger difference in the lives of our neighbors in need, and we encourage others to do the same."

The grants will be used to purchase playground equipment for the Capital Park affordable housing community in Ohio, and Eleanor Corbett House for homeless women and children in New Jersey.

The funds also will purchase furnishings for VOA's family visitation and activity center in Illinois, a van for a homeless youth transition center in Utah and air conditioning for the Edwards House for developmentally disabled residents in Wisconsin.

Additionally grants will enable a Nurturing Parent Program curriculum for fourteen counties in Texas and a parent resource library at the Highland Child Development Center in Louisiana.

"It is an honor to work with the Major League Baseball players and the Players Trust to improve the lives of our most vulnerable citizens," said Charles Gould, national president and chief executive officer of Volunteers of America."

The Players Trust has contributed more than $3 million in support of Volunteers of America's national and local programs and services since 2002, including a recent $1 million grant to launch the Gulf Region Rental Housing Development Fund.

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.